Come on wuss it's just a door

[poll_the_stars]

Avetlarinyarenesaar... Is currently trying to force herself to walk another few steps. She hasn't managed it, yet. Her reason for stopping was perfectly ordinary - check the address, make sure it was correct, be sure she was in the right place. She'd been quite sure, but there wasn't any downside to double checking, so she double checked. And triple checked. She stopped herself from quadruple checking, but she wanted to anyway. To - be sure that she was right. Yes. Not because she was procrastinating, or nervous, or thinking what am I going to say? She wanted to be sure that she was right.

Well. She's right. She checked three times, there's no doubt to it.

"Look," she mutters to herself, "I get it, it's scary, but deal. You are not allowed to - to -" To what? Go home? Maybe try to work up the courage later? Maybe try and avoid the shren house like so many other dragons?

It was a door. It's idiotic to be afraid of a door. Sure, there were shrens on the other side of it, but there could conceivably be shrens on the other side of lots of doors, some of them were in hiding, hair dye existed. Subtle colors existed. She could have been near shrens any number of times.

That - did not actually make her fear go away. Instead it makes her want to curl up in her little apartment and not go outside again.

Great. Okay. Stop that train of thought, it's not useful. If she stands here any longer, people are going to stare. (Is that person over there staring? Probably. Damn.) Just - door. Go. Walk.

She forces herself to walk to the door, somewhat stiffly. And then she is at the door. ... Does she knock? Does she just open it and go in? She has no idea. It's customary to knock, so... She takes a deep breath and does so. Resisting the urge to flee and teleport away (or scamper into the bushes) isn't easy, but she manages it.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

Thyell shudders delicately. "Thudias, yes. Sometimes people report on their shrens but we don't require anyone to talk about it so those numbers will be incomplete and their incompleteness will vary with the other mores of the time."

[poll_the_stars]

Avet wants to hit Thyell. Suck it up, wuss, trying to save baby dragons, here. Shudder in horror at shrens on your own time, right now you're Avet's minion. Minions are not allowed to shudder in horror.

"Okay," she says. "So. If it's dragon magic that's causing all of this, which, admittedly it might not be... shrens are a factor, they have dragon magic too."

[alicornucopia]

"Is there anything else you need a dragon genealogist's help with?" asks Thyell, testy.

[poll_the_stars]

She looks at Thyell. She contemplates screeching her opinions, about how when people are dying, especially children, you put aside your emotions and you fix the fucking problem. About how she's not the enemy here for trying to understand a situation in its entirety. She muses on thoughts as to why no one has made progress before, of course they haven't. Shrens are scary. This is the way things are, always have been, and always will be. The Dragon Council has it covered. She considers gathering up all evidence she has that it is not covered and throwing it in this woman's face.

"... No, thank you," she says, instead. "I'm sorry for bothering you. You've been a great help. Have a lovely day."

[alicornucopia]

"Best of luck with your project," says Thyell mildly.

[poll_the_stars]

"Thank you," she says, not quite managing to make it out of icy, but the effort's there.

She doesn't want to be on Dragon Island anymore. It's probably better to stay, she bets they have some records of shrens here, but she can't stay. She'll end up shouting at someone. Time to go.

She teleports to the shren house in Esmaar, and storms to the door, and knocks.

[alicornucopia]

Jensal answers it.

[poll_the_stars]

Avet is pissed. Not at Jensal, but definitely pissed.

"I'm sorry to bother you again," she says, sincerely, despite that. "Do you have records on the number of living shrens? Please?"

[alicornucopia]

"We don't get information on home shrens and don't necessarily hear how many have died once they leave houses, but I know how many are in houses right now and can extrapolate the rest."

[poll_the_stars]

"Okay, if you could get me those records without freezing up the minute you hear the word shren and getting testy and unhelpful with me for stupid reasons when I am trying to save uncounted babies from death before they're a month old, that would be great." Pause. "... Sorry, not directed at you."

[alicornucopia]

"I gathered. If I froze up when I heard the word 'shren' I would be unqualified for my job," snorts Jensal. She lets Avet in and leads her to an office that appears to suffer from chronic paperwork and starts flipping through some of same.

[poll_the_stars]

"Yes, that is specifically why I'm here," says Avet, dry. She waits.

"... I don't know if Ehail's told you, but we've made progress."

[alicornucopia]

"She hasn't been reporting to me. She lives at the Petar house; if she's been reporting to anyone it's probably Ludei."

[poll_the_stars]

"Oh. Well. Do you want an explanation? It's somewhat incomplete, but it's more of an explanation than there was before."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not academically interested in the subject. Do you have results?" asks Jensal, pulling a file.

[poll_the_stars]

"If I'm correct there is a spell that can accurately predict whether a baby dragon is going to die or not. Aside from that, no."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not sure how many parents would perceive that as a blessing," she remarks. Flip flip. "Extrapolating from house populations there are something like ten thousand total shrens in the world. More likely to be an overcount than an undercount."

[poll_the_stars]

"Some might. Some might be smart enough to time their attempts to have children until after another dragon dies. Some -" She freezes.

She looks at Jensal.

"Oh fuck."

[alicornucopia]

Jensal puts the file away. "What?"

[poll_the_stars]

"The - I suspect that there is a limited amount of dragon magic. The population is not stable because babies die, babies die because the population is kept stable by an outside source. That is, the amount of dragon magic. There is only so much that can go around, apparently, everyone who doesn't get it dies, and anyone who barely gets enough is a shren. Shrens have dragon magic."

Avet looks very horrified by the implications.

[alicornucopia]

"Are you anticipating dragons getting close enough to our houses to murder us all, or are you just very sensitive to the prospect of egg destruction? We don't even know how many dragons destroy their shren eggs."

[poll_the_stars]

Avet winces.

"I. Don't know. I don't know what I'm anticipating. I don't want you to be murdered, and I don't want shren eggs to be destroyed before they hatch. I don't like the, the - there will be a lot more dragons working to kill shrens, I think. I don't like the extrapolated social and murdery results. If it gets out."

[alicornucopia]

"So, infant mortality's better?" wonders Jensal neutrally.

[poll_the_stars]

"I. No?! It's not better, it's awful, I want it to stop! But I will not - shrens deserve to live. They should not die because they are inconvenient or so another baby dragon could live, everyone should live. No, no - if you play the pick and choose game, where does it end? Kill your neighbor so your babies don't die, sneak into your cousin's home and smash their eggs so yours will have a chance - no. No! It isn't better, but I refuse to start playing this horrific, sick game of, of, 'it is better for a shren to die for the sake of a baby dragon,' I refuse to say that one baby dragon can live over another, I refuse to say this is the way things are and let them die, before any of them are even hatched, or before they're a month old. No. I will find something better."

[alicornucopia]

Jensal listens to this impassioned speech... impassively.